Travel inspired decor is one of the hottest interior design trends for 2014. Globes, maps, compasses, steamer trunks, and vintage suitcases are all making an appearance in home accessories. You’ll find an endless array of items to purchase, but you’ll also want to dig out souvenirs from your own travels to add a personal touch to your decorating efforts. You can’t vacation all the time, but there’s no reason you can’t bring some of that feeling into your home.

Here are some fun ways to add a global twist to any room in your house:

1. Maps – Whether you find them in art shops, on thrifting excursions, or at teaching supply stores, maps are a fabulous way to add color and interest to any wall in the house. Old or new, depicting the world, a country, or a state, they’re all great for decorating. If you want to personalize your map, add pushpins to the places you’ve been. You’ll also find map print wallpaper, throw pillows, and curtains if you prefer that to an actual map.

2. Globes – You’ll find globes ranging in size from miniscule to enormous, built to stand alone or to sit on a table top. Globes come in a wide variety of colors; blue and beige are the most common, but with their rise in popularity, artistic versions of these old standbys can be found in every color of the rainbow. Globes look nice as decor, but they’re also fun and educational. Everyone from small children to the elderly are drawn to them, and if you have company, it will be the rare person who can resist the urge to give it a spin.

If you’re feeling bored with your living room’s look, but new furniture isn’t in your budget, you can give it a brand new feel without breaking the bank. The best way to change the overall style of any room without spending a ton of money is to focus on accents. You can switch it up by playing with colors and patterns, breathing new life into your tired old furniture.

1. Pillows – You can find great pillows at every price point imaginable, so this is one category where there’s something for everyone. For anywhere from ten bucks to hundreds of dollars each, you can indulge your love of color, patterns, and texture in ways that will make you forget that you thought your couch was boring. Don’t make the mistake of wedding yourself to a cluster of pillows that are all exactly the same. You’ll achieve a better look with a hodgepodge of colors and fabrics. Mix it up by pairing suede with silk, or embroidered cotton with rugged saddle leather. Create a lovely chaos with stripes, florals, and solids.

There are a number of ways to brighten up your space, and there are a lot of reasons to do so! One important factor is that the quality of light in your home can have a serious impact on your mood. A dark home can feel drab, heavy, and depressing. The lack of light has a sedating effect, so you could find yourself feeling tired and sluggish. Brighter rooms have the opposite effect. They feel more cheerful and uplifting, and you may find that your energy levels increase from spending time in areas that have more light.

If you live in a home with small rooms, there’s another advantage to brightening up your space. It can actually make your rooms look larger. Dark colors in a small room have a tendency to make it visually shrink. On the other hand, lighter, brighter colors open it up and make it appear larger than it actually is. The illusion of more space might not give you more square footage and storage capabilities, but it can make you feel like you’re less crowded, and that’s almost as good.

If you feel like you and your home could benefit from lightening up, it’s easier to achieve than you might think.These five simple tips will help you brighten up your space in no time flat:

If your recollections of wallpaper from your childhood are of the kind that you think of with a mixture of horror and amusement, your reaction to the wallpaper comeback in home decor might not be all that favorable. Yes, you’re right, some of those awful vinyl wall coverings with regrettable prints should never see the light of day again…

But hold on just a minute before you dismiss the new wallpapers out of hand! Wallpaper has undergone a serious image change, and we think you’re going to love its new look. Interior designers who swore up and down that wallpaper would forever be a decorating faux pas are rethinking their stance and calling it one of the best new options in home makeovers. These are some of the hottest wallpaper trends you should know about:

If you’re tired of cooking in a kitchen that feels cluttered and disorganized, it’s time to simplify. You don’t have to be a bare bones minimalist in order to reap the benefits of a simplified kitchen. With these 7 easy tips, you can simplify your kitchen without sacrificing your favorite culinary conveniences. It’s not about deprivation, it’s about creating space for the things you love and enjoy.

1. Declutter – This is the first step towards a simplified kitchen. Go through every drawer and cabinet, and get rid of anything you don’t use. Most of us have tons of gadgets gathering cobwebs in the dark crevices of our cupboards, and Tupperware lids whose bowls have been missing for years. If you have a collection of plastic children’s cups and your children have moved on to real glasses, pass them along to someone else. It’s time for them to go!

2. Let it live where you use it – This means that pots and pans should go in the cabinets nearest your stove, and cooking utensils and potholders in the nearest drawers. Your spice rack or designated shelf space should also be in this vicinity. This sounds like common sense, but a lot of people don’t do it. If your kitchen isn’t already organized this way, you’ll love the difference it makes!